Adorable Idiots
by Trickster-Prophet
Summary: Highschool!AU. Cecil and Carlos have a date, but something happens and suddenly everything had gone terribly wrong. Warning - non-graphic violence.


**A/N: I like abusing Cecil far too much. Slight warnings for violence - but nothing terribly graphic. **

* * *

The bell rang, and Carlos scrambled to pack up the assorted books, notes and pens that were scattered across his desk. Normally he was more careful about packing up his things, but today he was in a hurry to get away from school. He had a date.

And not just any date. A date with Cecil, the presenter of Nigh Vale High's radio station and one of the most attractive and sought-after guys in the school – not that Cecil knew this since he saw himself as just a dorky guy who happened to present a radio show he was sure no-one listened to. Carlos could dispute some of that.

Sure, Cecil was a bit of a dork, but it was in a loveable, haphazard way that Carlos just adored. And yeah, he presented a radio show. But heaps of people listened to it. Actually listened, and paid attention to what he said. He just didn't seem to realise it. And that was what had Carlos worried.

Cecil had a bit of a habit of gushing about whatever he was most interested in at the time while he was on air. This was usually okay because he was going on about a new movie or some interesting fact he'd learned, but then he'd met Carlos, and from then on, everyone knew about Cecil's crush and now, everyone in the entire school knew about their date today. Great.

Carlos dashed down the hall, ignoring a teacher who was shouting at him for running inside. He didn't care today. He arrived at his locker, out of breath, hair askew and glasses falling down his nose.

"You're in a hurry." Said a female voice at from his left.

"Oh, hey Dana." Carlos panted, showing his books into his locker and grabbing his backpack, "I've got a date, gotta go, sorry!"

Dana rolled her eyes and shouted after Carlos "Have fun!"

But her friend was already out the door. Dana shook her head and sighed, slinging her satchel over her shoulder. She had to walk down to the elementary school to pick up Tamika, and if she didn't get moving, she was going to be late.

Carlos sprinted down the steps and across to the bench under the tree where he and Cecil had agreed to meet. The hot afternoon sun beat down on him, but today Carlos barely noticed it, so intent was he on getting to his destination.

As he neared the tree, Carlos realised that there as an above average amount of people standing around the bench. Now that he came to think of it, it was strange that there were people near the bench at all. It was around the side of the building where not many people really went, obscured from the road and not a hugely popular spot to hang out. The people were standing around in a loose circle, and as Carlos got closer, he could hear shouts and exclamations. 'Oh shit' he thought 'a fight.'

Carlos didn't stop to think. He pushed his way through the crowd until he could see what was going on. When he did, he felt his blood run cold.

Cecil was being held by one of the boys from the baseball team (Carlos didn't know all the names yet) while another one was hitting him, hard. Cecil wasn't even fighting; he just hung there limply, almost like he was unconscious.

Carlos didn't know what to do. He wasn't strong, he wasn't brave and he wasn't that scary. He'd never punched anyone in his life; but he had to do something. So he did.

"Hey!" He shouted, stepping into the circle, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Silence descended on the scene like a wet blanket. The boy retraining Cecil dropped him on the ground, kicked at him savagely and approached Carlos. Of course it was then the Carlos realised how much bigger the other guy was and how stupid he himself was for trying to take him on. He glanced quickly down at Cecil, who hadn't moved. Please let him be ok Carlos prayed, before looking defiantly up at the baseball player.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shouted a voice from somewhere behind Carlos. And then Dana was stepping into the circle too, hands balled into fists and absolutely spitting mad. She moved past Carlos until she was standing in front of the guy, staging him in the eye, "I said," She repeated, her voice going soft, "What the hell do you think you're doing, you brainless piece of shit?" She didn't give him time to answer. She just punched.

The other guy approached her, almost snarling.

"Carlos," Dana said sweetly, without turning her head, "Now would be a good time to take Cecil and get out of here. We don't want you implicated in this too."

Carlos slipped around the edge of the – slightly fearful – circle and crouched down beside Cecil's prone form.

"Cecil?" he whispered, dimply aware of Dana trading insults and blows with the other guy – and winning, "Cecil are you okay?" He put a hand on Cecil's shoulder, trying to get a response out of him. Carlos was starting to panic when Cecil moved. Just a bit, but he definitely moved, trying to sit up. That was enough for Carlos. He wrapped his arms around Cecil and managed to lift him up. Carlos mightn't have been very strong, but Cecil was quite skinny and surprisingly light. And then Dana was there next to him helping him to lift and carry Cecil away from the crowd on onlookers. Carlos glanced back for just a second to see one of the bullies helping the other to his feet, both of them bleeding from the face.

"Come on." She hissed to him, "Don't look back." She carefully fished her phone out of her pocket and called an ambulance. That done, Dana helped Carlos to lay Cecil down in the shade of the building.

"Hey, Cecil?" She bent over him, touching his cheek lightly, "You with me?'

"Yeah." Cecil managed to mouth, even though his mouth and nose were bleeding and his face was already swelling up.

"Okay, well you stay with me, okay?" Dana told him firmly, gripping one of his hands in hers

Carlos sat on Cecil's other side, and grasped his other hand. He wanted to say something, anything, to Cecil to comfort him or help him in some way, but he just couldn't. And he felt silently, desperately useless.

The ambulance arrived shortly after and Dana left Carlos and Cecil with the paramedics, having to rush off and pick up her sister from school still. Before she left, she gave Carlos a hug and told Cecil to 'look after Carlos'.

Carlos rode in the ambulance with Cecil, sitting silently while the paramedics worked to stabilise Cecil and get some pain medication into him. At the hospital Carlos refused to stray more than a few feet from Cecil the entire time, except when the doctors sent him for x-rays to check if anything was broken. During that time, Carlos paced nervously outside the room, awaiting the verdict.  
When the brought Cecil out again, Carlos practically ran to his side, quickly but gently taking his hand. Cecil managed a weak smile, despite his bruised and cut face, and Carlos decided then and there that that it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Cecil got off lucky on all accounts. Other than number of cuts and bruises on his face, and a rather nasty concussion, all he had were a few bruised ribs – painful but not too dangerous – and, admittedly, a broken arm where one of the bullies had stamped on it before Carlos had got there.

The nurse told Carlos that they intended to keep Cecil in overnight for observation and that he should go home and get some sleep. Carlos shook his head

"I'll sleep here." He said, indicating the chair next to the bed in which Cecil lay, determinedly staying awake to watch proceedings.  
The nurse sighed and shrugged, as if to say 'there's nothing I can do to stop you'.

Carlos didn't really sleep. He stayed awake through most of the night, watching as the nurses made their rounds and checked up on Cecil every little while. He finally dozed off at about 4:30, waking up again around seven, when he would normally wake before school. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around the hospital room. For a moment he was confused, and then it all came flooding back to him.

He turned to check on Cecil, and found him smiling at him from his bed.

"Hey." Cecil barely whispered.

"Hey." Carlos replied, standing and coming to the side of Cecil's bed, and taking his hand. "How're you feeling?"

"Battered. Bruised." Cecil sighed, "My face hurts." He added, almost thoughtfully.

"Well considering how much it was punched yesterday." Carlos pointed out, "Why were they after you anyway?"

"Same reasons as always." Cecil shrugged, like getting beaten almost to a pulp was normal for him, "You know, I'm poplar but I'm gay, and that offends them. The usual." He placed his free hand on top of their joined ones.

Carlos bit his lip and looked up at Cecil, examining the damage done to his face. One eye was surrounded by a wonderful, dark bruise, and on the other side of his face his eyebrow had been split and was covered in butterfly dressings. There was a mass of dark purple bruises over his left cheek but his mouth seemed to be okay.

What the hell though Carlos, might as well. He placed a gentle hand on Cecil's right cheek and guided their lips together, kissing him softly, carefully, trying not to hurt him. Cecil kissed him back just as justly, and when they broke apart he was smiling radiantly.  
"I've…uh, been waiting for you to do that actually." He admitted, blushing and twisting the bed sheets in his hands, "Waiting, and well, hoping."

"I should have done it sooner." Carlos admitted, running a hand through his unruly hair, which was sticking up at all angles.

"It's okay." Cecil said gently, "Point is you did it, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You only 'guess so'?" Cecil laughed lightly and winced at the pain in his ribs.

"You okay?" Carlos asked, concern creeping back into his voice, "Your ribs hurting?"

"A bit, yeah." Cecil nodded.

"Hang on a sec." Carlos ducked out of the room and called a nurse, who came in and checked Cecil over and gave him more medication for the pain.

After the nurse left, Carlos climbed up onto Cecil's bed and sat with him, one arm around his shoulders and watched cartoons together until Dana called by at about 8 to check on them. She found them leaning against each other, fast asleep.

"Adorable idiots." She muttered fondly, rubbing at her bruised knuckles absently.


End file.
